The Adventure of A Lifetime
by DigiTails
Summary: Six years after the gang returns to Mobius Tails and Cream took a new plane out for a test run. Their mission serves a second purpose: to find Cream’s missing mother. There is an unexpected change in plans when the plane crashes. Tails & Cream; ON HOLD
1. Model planes, Model adventures

When this story takes place Six months after Sonic X finishes Ages and heights of starring official characters 

Tails- 12, 2' 7"

Cream- 10, 2' 4"

No OCs in this fiction 

o.O Wow, I'm actually doing a fiction without OCs...alert the papers!

_**Just so you won't get confused later...**_

"blah blah blah"- people saying stuff out loud

'_blah blah blah_'- people thinking stuff

_blah blah blah_- flashbacks, dreams, lines from something running through minds

!-Blah blah blah!- Beginning and end to chapters, also major change in location

!- change of time, or minor change in location

Disclaimers- I don't own Sonic, nor do I claim to! Sonic Team of SEGA owns Sonic. 

!-!-Begin Chapter One-!-!-

_**Model planes, Model adventures**_

!-!-Begin Dream Sequence-!-!-

_Screaming, petrifying screaming, shot through the air. Her mom's screaming. She sat up like a bolt, listening to a half wailing, half-crying tortured soul of a voice. Her mom's voice. Other than that there were voices, robbers._

"_Please, leave my daughter alone," were the words uttered by the miserable, sad voice._

_A foul, evil, rough voice responded curtly, "No this job can't be half done."_

_She slipped out of her bed silently, and walked to her mom's room, curiosity overwhelming her. Upon entering she issued a low, but audible, gasp. Her mom was pinned by a robot, E-267§, her arm being bent in an unnatural way. Flanking that robot were two other robots, E-118ß and E-542Å._

_E-118ß's sharp metallic voice rang through the air, "Sir, there she is."_

"_E-542Å, grab her."_

_E-542Å and E-267§ left when E-118ß grabbed the poor girl, taking her mother with them. E-118ß made a gradual check of the house. Out of one of the windows she saw a flash of orange. As E-118ß was about to leave, an orange fox stopped him in his tracks._

_He had two tails, both of which were swishing vehemently. His normal blue eyes were filled with a cold fury. His normal calm countenance was hidden under his anger. His words were like ice cold and sharp._

"_Put her down."_

_E-118ß was a huge coward so all the kitsune really had to do was swish his tails once to make it put her down. That was exactly what it did and then it flew off into the night, following its comrades. When she hit the ground, she screamed. _

!-!-End Dream Sequence-!-!-

Tails was pulling an all-nighter, again, to get some of his plans finished with. Suddenly his sensitive ears quivered. There were some screams coming from the hut next to his. In the Samoya village, a secret base hidden from Eggman, all the huts were in-groups of four, and usually were filled. The grouping Tails was in had only two people, him and Cream. Tails got out of his chair and padded out of his hut and to the door of Cream's. Upon testing the door he found it was unlocked and he entered the room. Tails saw Cream lying in her bed asleep but not soundly so. She was still screaming, and it hurt Tails's sharp ears, but the odds of anyone else hearing the high-pitched moans were very low. Tails just went over to where Cream was lying and sat on the edge of the bed, and looked at her with concern and shook her gently.

!-!-

Waking up. Tails looking down at Cream with concern. She sat up, hugging Tails tightly, burying her head in his shoulder. She was afraid that if she let go or looked about she would be lost to the black void in the back of her mind. This was clearly an awkward position for Tails, who hadn't found himself in this position often. Tails thought that Cream needed comforting and laid a hand gently on her back and ironically, mimicked what he had done four years earlier after Cream's mom was taken from her. Therefore, sinking Cream even deeper into the impression that she was still there, at her old house after her mom was taken from her. Her sobs became louder and more frequent.

Tails was by now, very confused, and it showed, "Cream, what's wrong?"

"Tails, didn't you see those robots?"

"Huh?" Tails's memory was jogged into remembering what had happened six years earlier, "Oh those robots. Cream look up, that happened six years ago."

Cream looked around the room and let go of Tails. A pale shade of pink decided to grace her face at that moment.

"Oh, hehehe..."

"Cream, its okay, I think I can understand how you feel about it. Sometimes...," he shook his head like he trying to shake a bad memory from his mind ,"Nevermind."

"What do you mean you understand, Tails? Have you suffered from anything like what happened to me?"

Tails looks out of window, the light from the stars playing an interesting effect on his eyes, "When I was younger my mother was robotized, and my father left me. I was all alone."

"Tails, I didn't know..."

"I didn't think you would," Tails presently looks down at Cream light still playing in his eyes, "I really never told anyone about that"

"I can understand, it must have hurt a lot." It was now Cream's turn to turn and stare out of the window having the lights of the stars sparkle in her eyes while having a very sad look about her.

"Hey, Cream, think you'll be okay?"

"What? Oh I'm just not tired…….."

"Okay…….just try to get some rest, Cream." Tails slowly stood up and started to walk towards the door.

"Tails, where are you going?"

"I have to get some plans done, Cream, otherwise I would stay and chat"

"Oh you mean that plane? Can I see what you have so far?" Cream knew that Tails always makes models of his designs, "Maybe I could help you make your model."

Tails paused in his exit taking time to think about the offer. Cream was a crafty sort of person after all, besides he had to get the thing done by morning. "Sure thing, Cream, all the help you could give me would be appreciated"

Tails and Cream head towards Tails's hut and soon afterward Tails finishes his plan and they set to work on the model.

!-!-

"Tails, where does this piece go?" Cream picked up a piece of metal that Tails had just cut out. She crossed checked with the design, but she couldn't find where it went.

Tails looked up from cleaning his desk off. He inspected the piece closely before breaking into a smirk. "That is for the plane, it's a special mechanism, the reason its not on there is because I just figured out that it needed to be added to the plane."

Cream looked at the model again, which had transformed itself into a box while she wasn't looking. "Okay, then why did it transform into that?" She pointed at the small box, "It wasn't a box when I finished a few seconds ago."

Tails lost his smirk and started a short explanation. "The plane is supposed to be able to transform into a small box so it's easy to carry. That piece is to make sure it doesn't do sparatic changing."

"Oh so you are not flying the plane and it suddenly fold up with you inside it. Or its in your hand and it unfolds so you're squashed beneath it?"

"Yep," Tails took the funky piece from Cream and manipulated it so it got into the center of the "plane". The box turned into a sleek looking quadruple jet engine plane that Tails had been asked a few weeks ago to design using the power of a power emerald that Sonic found.

"Tails, why does it have four engines, wouldn't it still go fast using only two engines?"

"A power Emerald has seven times the power of a Chaos Emerald so a double jet-engine plane would short circuit."

"Oh," Cream nodded her head in understanding. She suddenly started to yawn, "Maybe I should get out of here now"

Tails also yawned, "Careful, Cream, yawning is contagious"

Cream smiled at Tails and got up and headed for the door. However, she fell asleep on her feet and fell zonked out to the floor only halfway there. Tails looked at Cream's prone form in bemusement but he fell asleep before he could do anything else. As a cruel trick of fate, Tails's alarm clock went off five minutes later.

!-!-

Tails's alarm clock blared for the 20th time in succession before it got any response from the two sleeping forms in the room. Tails lifted his head up off his desk and yawned lazily. He reached behind him and shut the annoying device off. With another yawn he looked around his room.

His eyes paused on Cream. 'What is she doing here?' He wondered that to himself, he blinked blearily and looked at the finished model. 'Did she help me finish that?' Slowly he got rid of his sleep-induced dumbness.

He got out of his chair and walked over to the prone figure on the ground. He slowly shook Cream awake.

"Cream. Wake up."

Cream sat up quickly, accidentally sending Tails hurtling towards the wall. He landed there with a dull 'thud'.

"Oh, Tails. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."

Tails rubbed his nose that had taken most of the damage. "Its okay. I'm awake."

Cream walked over to Tails and crouched down. "I'm really sorry, Tails."

"Its okay, honestly, though I think my nose is bleeding."

"Let me see."

Cream didn't wait for an answer from Tails before she pulled his hand away from his now bleeding nose.

!-!-End Chapter One-!-!-


	2. Beginning of Factor X

Sorry when I was reloading this story the second chapter got replaced with a copy of the first. I apologize, I never meant for that to happen.

!-Begin Chapter Two!-

_**Beginning of Factor X**_

"Oh, Tails. You're bleeding."

"I am?"

Tails just blinked at the statement Cream made, apparently to zonked to have realized that fact earlier.

"Yeah."

"Musta conked me real good then. Dun worry 'bout it though. I'll live."

!-!-

Tails's nose had stopped bleeding in a few minutes. The kitsune glanced at his alarm clock that read 9:30. He sighed, knowing he was late for the meeting.

An impatient knock sounded on the door. 'One guess who that is.' Tails smirked to himself, there was only one person that knocked like that. "Come in Sonic."

The door opened revealing a blue hedgehog, and a none to happy one either. "Tails. The meeting started 15 minutes ago, you were supposed to reveal the model of your plane then. What's been keeping you?" It was about then that he noticed Tails was kneeling on the ground cleaning the floor and Cream was nearby, cleaning a wall. "What are you doing, Tails? And what's Cream doing here?"

Tails got off the floor and laid the red tinted rag he was using on his desk and picked up the small metal box. "Heh, I was cleaning blood off the floor, Sonic. Cream is doing likewise to the wall."

"Why is there blood on the wall and floor? And that still hasn't answered why Cream is here." Sonic was starting to sound impatient as he waited for answers to his questions.

"I had a nightmare last night..."

"About Tails dying?" Sonic blurted out, without his mind attached. Tails gave Sonic a death glare, and unknown to the two tailed kit so did Cream. What kind of secret keeper was that hedgehog anyway?

"No, Sonic. It wasn't about that. It was about something else, savvy?" Cream's voice was even and measured. "After I woke up I couldn't sleep so I came over her and helped Tails finish his plane model."

Sonic blinked. "Its done? Then we should get going, Tails. Everybody is waiting."

Tails glared at Sonic then brushed past him, he paused at the door and looked back at Cream. "Thanks for helping me out last night Cream, I don't think I'd have finished this otherwise."

With that Tails turned tail and walked out the door.

!-!-

Tails walked into the central commons at the center of the village. He looked at the small gathering in it. There was Amy, Rogue, Shadow, Sonia, Manic, and Ashura. The group was gathered around a small-upraised dirt "podium". He shrugged and walked up to the mound.

"Sorry about the delay guys, slept in." He watched Sonic take a seat next to Amy but didn't miss a beat in what he was saying. "Anyway, I have the model." He lifted up the hand that was holding the small metallic thing. His palm was raised so it was facing upwards and the box was placed in the center of it. "This, is Factor X." He smirked at the amazed stares he was receiving, "It transforms into a carry size box, just another way to use the excess energy that the Power Emerald will give it." He touched the side of the box and it transformed in his hand.

It had eight wings, four at each side that were angled diagonally, Two went upwards two went down, there was one set in the front and another in the back, this was just on one side. The tail fin came up a few inches over the cockpit, which would translate to about two feet or so. It had four engines.

The whole group stared in awe of the model.

"Alright Tails! When can you start building that thing?"

"It's the Factor X, Sonic. I can start it tomorrow if I wanted to."

"Alright. And when can you finish it?"

"About two weeks after I start." The translation- one week and six days. The last day was normally spent packing stuff for a test flight.

"Okay then. You can do it to it."

!-!-

Tails was crouched down, his head was stuck in the Factor X's side. He was so preoccupied with what he was doing that he didn't hear Cream enter his workshop.

He didn't hear Cream say his name over the welder either. Although he felt something; namely that something was Cream running her hand up his spine. He held back a shiver and tried to un-tense his muscles as soon as her hand hit his back.

!-!- Tails POV -!-!-

I felt something run up my spine, I dunno why, but every muscle in my body tensed up for nearly a second. I turned the welder off and pushed my mask up so it wasn't blocking my sight. There was Cream's trademark red dress, and I could only see a part of it.

Cream seemed to hear the welder shut off. She choose almost that exact moment to speak.

!-!- Normal POV -!-!-

"Tails, can I tell you something?"

"What, Cream?"

Tails's voice sounded very impatient. It was hard and nearly cold. Almost like he had snapped at her. Cream's eyes showed a small amount of hurt, what had she done to deserve being snapped at like that. Her voice betrayed a small portion of that hurt.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Tails. I'll come back later." At that Cream started to leave the room.

Tails had regretted snapping at Cream like that almost the instant he did it. Now he doubly regretted it. He moved one of his tails without thinking to block her leaving. A shiver ran down his spine when Cream touched it, or was it a shiver?

"Don't leave, Cream. What did you want to tell me?"

"You'll think I'm crazy."

"So? Come on, tell me."

Tails brought his head out of the Factor X and stood up. He turned to face Cream.

"What is it?"

"I know everyone searched for my mom when Robotnik kidnapped her, and we left her for robotized...but I can't help but feel that she escaped some how."

Tails couldn't help but smirk at her statement. "You have a point? Or was that it?" There was nothing but good humor in his voice.

"You think I'm crazy!"

"No I don't. What's the rest of it?"

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking me on the Factor X's test flight to help me search for my mother."

Tails blinked. He hadn't really promised anyone they could be the second passenger. Though he was expecting Sonic to tag along, as usual. Maybe he could convince him to stay here though. He sighed.

"I'll try to see if I can do that, Cream."

Cream smiled at Tails.

"Can I help you with the Factor X?"

Tails picked a pair of work gloves off the table and tossed them at Cream. "Catch. The windows need to be put on the plane. If you could do that, I'd appreciate it."

"Doesn't the glass need to be cut?" Cream nodded towards the piles of sheet glass on a table.

"Yeah, they've already had the lines put on them where they need to be cut. I'll show you how to use the saw."

Cream nodded her consent. "Which one do I cut first?"

"First, we're going to have you run a test piece, so you get the hang of it."

Tails picked up a spare sheet of glass and took his magic glass marker. He drew a straight line across it and brought it over to the table. He also changed the saw blades, so it was better suited for cutting glass. He ran the basics through Cream and stood back to watch her try cutting the glass.

Almost immediately he noticed something wrong with her posture and walked over, turning the saw off. "Cream, you're gonna cut your hands off that way. Lemme show you how you cut it correctly."

He moved so that he was directly behind her. He positioned Cream so that she was holding the glass correctly. He held one of her wrists and turned the saw on. If Tails could she Cream's face he might have backed off immediately. But since he couldn't, he didn't notice the profuse blush that had started to creep up Cream's cheeks. She was embarrassed to be this close to Tails.

After the line was cut without any hands being cut off Tails backed off. He picked up his marker and drew another line on it.

"Lets see you cut that one by yourself."

Cream did that one perfectly. As well as a curve, and a turn.

"Alright, start cutting those pieces Cream. I'll get back to wiring the plane." As he turned around he noticed a blue quill leaving the doorway. What was Sonic doing here?

!-!-

Tails yawned as he headed towards the mess hall, there should be some leftovers from the nights meal. He had excused Cream after the glass had been cut out. He had fastened the glass onto where they were needed and had finished the wiring. Now all he had to do was check the engine for leaks and to make sure that the power Emerald didn't overload the system and make sure mostly everything worked before the real test flight.

He was cut short of sitting down at a table by none other than Sonic The Hedgehog.

"Hey, Tails."

"Hi, Sonic." Tails barely managed to utter those two words between yawns. He sat down at the table and started to eat the food he had picked up.

"I saw you holding Cream earlier today."

Tails nearly choked on his food. '_what is with the insinuating tone?_' He made sure no one else was in the mess hall.

"There weren't any chili dogs, I suppose you ate them all." There was a poison about his words and he gave Sonic a death glare, not that the blue one seemed to notice.

"No I didn't." sonic got up and started to leave. "Oh and I'll tell everyone else what I saw."

Tails shot Sonic a quizzical look. "I was just showing her how to use the saw correctly."

"Sure you were Tails. And I'm still telling."

Tails decided on a low blow, he was starting to hate the tone of Sonic's voice. "You do that and I tell Amy what you said about her in front of everybody."

The blush that covered the lower part of Sonic's face really contrasted with his blue fur. Tails would have fell onto the floor laughing if he had taken time to notice his friend's face.

"Um...I'll keep my mouth shut then. Oh and Cream can go with you on the plane."

Tails smiled into his food as he ate it. Finally, finally he had managed to score one on Sonic.

!-!-End Chapter Two-!-!-


	3. Plane Trip

-Begin Chapter Three-

_**Plane Trip!**_

Tails walked over the hut he occupied, pausing to look at Cream's for a few seconds before entering his own. Sonic had said she could go with him, but the council would have to really decide that. Best not to get her hopes up just yet.

As he entered the relative sanctuary of his "house" he thought about quite a few things. Firstly, why Sonic was annoying him so much earlier. It was nothing, he told himself, he had just been helping Cream use the saw. (Okay the Italics are gonna be Tails's inner voice talking to him. Yep that's right, he's gonna have a conversation with himself. and I have gone crazy)

"_Then why didn't you want to let go of her?"_

"It was nothing, I don't love her."

"_Are you sure?"_

"I am sure, now let me sleep."

"_Fine, but you're wrong."_

Tails blinked, what in blue blazes had that been about? How could he be telling himself he was wrong? Was he going crazy? 'Calm down, you're just tired, go to sleep. It was nothing.' He tried to tell himself, yet he wouldn't believe it, no matter how many times he tried.

Tails crawled into his bed and for the first time in a long time, curled up into a ball.

-Tails POV-

I couldn't understand myself. Something was keeping me from sleeping, yet I was so tired. I sighed, might as well run thoughts through my mind, since I couldn't sleep. I uncurled and lay, staring at the ceiling.

Okay, why on earth did Cream and me get stuck in the only grouping of huts in the entire village. I mean, we're the furthest away from anybody...why not put Rouge and Knuckles or some other couple here. I mean, I don't like Cream as anything more than a friend.

"_You sure?"_

"I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"_Okay, fine, Grumpy."_

'Grumpy?' What was with me tonight? I was arguing with myself. I sighed and turned around, this could be a very long night.

-Normal POV, somewhere else-

Cream stared at the ceiling of her room and sighed. She was having trouble sleeping, but not for the same reason as Tails. She really wanted to go search for her mother, even though she knew that her mother was most likely dead or a robot. But Cream couldn't help feel that her mother _was_ alive, and not a robot.

She would have asked Tails if he knew if she could go with him, but she thought he was asleep by now, and she didn't want to disturb his rest. She had heard Tails working late on plans, mainly because of dull thuds and mutterings late into the night, he really could use some rest.

'They run him so ragged, designing everything. I really wish they wouldn't depend on him so much, he needs to sleep. He hasn't been himself for a while too.'

Cream hoped she wasn't hurting him, by asking him to help her on her search. Tails wouldn't admit to it, but she knew he hadn't been getting enough sleep, and he looked constantly worried; not to mention he had a shorter temper. How long had it been that he had been the carefree genius of eight? She knew six years had passed, but could six years really change a person so much? Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little, Tails still was kind, but he just wasn't like his old self.

She sighed and turned around in her bed, not knowing the answer.

-Normal POV, 5 in the morning-

Amy stared out of her window and watched the blue streak that was Sonic run past. She had found out when Sonic did his morning run and had gotten up to watch him run past. She loved watching him run, in fact she loved to watch him do anything. She sighed as she viewed the havoc Sonic had left in his wake, the grass was slightly lifted off the ground and some papers had followed him. She always expected papers, he couldn't run slow enough for them not to. But she had told Sonic once not to run so fast that he disturbed the ground.

It was his calling card, once Robotnik could easily trace to find the village and destroy it.

-Amy's POV-

I can't believe that Sonic sometimes. I had told him never to run that fast near the village, besides Robotnik being able to find us easier, the village wasn't made for that kind of abuse. I had had to wake Tails up once to fix a hut that Sonic had destroyed. Didn't he ever listen? I hated to wake Tails up now, he was going to be leaving on a plane trip soon and he needed as much sleep as he could get. According to Cream he had been losing a lot of sleep lately.

I opened the door and took a few deep breaths of the morning air and stepped out to where Sonic had been running and looked around. My hut was in the center of the village and Sonic was on the outskirts. I needed to do a lot of checking of huts to make sure none of them had been destroyed or damaged by the winds Sonic had created.

I started walking in the direction of Sonic's hut, I needed to check there first. The infirmary's windows were broken, taking the opportunity I looked in the large homely building. Cheese was lying on one of the beds, still sick. What could be wrong with him?

I wandered out and continued my search.

-Sonic's POV-

I had a lot on my mind. I needed to think, and that's not something I like to do a lot. I wondered if it was all right for Cream to go with Tails on that test flight. They were friends, just friends, nothing bad could possibly happen on that flight, it would only last for two days; nothing could happen.

Why was I so worried? Oh yeah, they both had a thing for each other, though they probably aren't aware of either of their feelings. I needed to talk to Amy, maybe she'd know what to do.

Speaking of her, how on Mobius did Tails know I like her? I thought I had kept it all a perfect secret, nobody would know. How did my best friend know though? I hadn't told him. I had accidentally blurted it out on a run once, but Tails couldn't have heard, or could he?

My head was starting to hurt, I needed to talk to...oh shoot, I was running way to fast. Amy was bound to notice the deep groove in the ground. Okay, I talk to Amy if I lived through her lecture. I stopped and turned around and started to back track, maybe I could put the ground back together running the way I came, and Amy wouldn't notice. I see why she's worried about Eggman noticing it, that groove sticks out like a sore thumb.

I entered the village, continuing with what I was doing.

-Normal POV-

Amy walked along the deep cut in the ground that Sonic had created. She sighed to herself and looked up, there was Sonic, running right toward her. She blinked he was going too fast for her to move out of the way in time, and Sonic didn't appear to be slowing down. She braced herself for the inevitable impact.

-Sonic's POV-

I looked up, oh great there was Amy; and she was in my path. There was no time to stop or swerve. But the last thing I was going to do was run into her, too embarrassing. I had to think quick, I noticed her move, oh she had spotted me.

My brain processes went so fast, I thought my head was going to burst. Only one second left, wait she was turned to the side, maybe...well it was that or nothing. I reached my arms out and picked Amy up. Man, was this going to be hard to explain if anyone saw that.

-Amy's POV-

I felt Sonic ram into me, but I didn't feel myself being thrown into the ground. Instead I felt wind rushing along one side of me while the other was...warmed? I opened the eyes I had closed and saw Sonic's face way too close for normality. I blinked, finally it sunk in, Sonic had picked me up instead of ramming into me.

I felt Sonic come to an abrupt stop and set my feet on the ground.

-Normal POV-

After Sonic had completely let go of Amy he backed away to a more comfortable distance. Amy had a furious blush, and to her amazement a faint pink glow had appeared on Sonic's face.

"Sonic? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Just wondering."

"What are you doing up at this hour anyway, Amy?"

"Watching you go on your run. You know you're not supposed to go so fast."

"Yeah, sorry."

Amy stared at Sonic in disbelief. He was actually apologizing? And he looked kind of sheepish. Amy smiled.

"Forgiven."

Sonic looked up at Amy and nodded. "So, eh, what did I destroy?"

"Just the windows on the infirmary. A good job for you when you get back from the test flight."

A wry smile crossed Sonic's face. "Oh, about that, I need to talk to you. I need your advice."

Amy stared at Sonic in quiet disbelief. 'Three impossible things happen today. What next?' "Sure, Sonic."

Amy lead Sonic to her hut and started to make a pot of hot chocolate. "What's the matter, Sonic?"

Sonic told Amy about promising Tails Cream could with him on the test flight. What he had seen the other day, he skipped the scene at the mess hall, just so Amy wouldn't get any idea that he liked her.

Amy sipped her chocolate in quiet contemplation and stared at Sonic before making an answer.

"I think it's a great idea for them to go together. Now we need a reason..."

-four hours later, Tails's POV-

I was packing some stuff into the plane, supplies I would need for the two-day journey. I heard someone enter the garage where the Factor X was kept. The tread was Sonic's.

"Tails, the rest of us have talked over who's gonna go with you."

"And?" I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, I really wanted to help Cream find her mom.

"As you know, I have to fix the windows to the infirmary, so Cheese doesn't catch cold, my reprimand for going too fast on my morning run. And the sooner the better, so I'm sitting this one out."

"Your point being?"

"I needed to suggest someone to take my place. So to keep my promise, I said Cream should go, you know she stays here so much, it might be good for her to go with you. The others agreed completely. You and Cream are going on a plane trip."

I smiled at the junk I was shoving into the plane. "Thanks, Sonic. You don't know how much this means to her."

"Whatever. You leave at one, remember that."

-Cream's POV-

I felt so worried. I couldn't leave my hut, the meeting was supposed to be over nearly half an hour ago. I hoped I could go along, but I didn't feel up to leaving. I knew my mom was out there, I didn't know what I'd do if I wasn't allowed to go search for her.

I heard a knock on my door, I opened it and saw Tails.

"Did they say I could go?"

Tails caught on to the worry in my voice and smiled. "It depends on how long it takes you to pack."

I blinked, was that a yes?

"You're going on a plane trip, Cream."

That was a definite yes. I smiled, "It won't take me long."

-At one, Normal POV-

Cream was sitting in the seat behind Tails in the Factor X. She was grinning to herself, and gripping the edge of her seat very hard.

The door in front of the plane opened, letting sunlight stream into the hanger. Tails flipped a switch and the dirt in front of the building slid apart, revealing a slick, black runway.

The plane rolled out of the hanger, sunlight bounced off the metal. It went up the road and took to the skies. The Factor X did a small circle around the village as the ground covered the path again. The four engine jet disappeared into the sky, never would it be seen again.

-End Chapter Three-


	4. Crash Landing

-Begin Chapter Four-

_**Crash Landing!**_

Tails looked around at the control panels in front of him. Everything seemed to be working properly. "Hey, Cream, everything alright back there?"

"Yes, Tails. How long do we have to search for my mom?"

"A day or two, but not much longer."

Cream sighed, that'd have to do. They continued their flight for a few more hours, Cream stared at the ground passing below them.

Suddenly, a small blip on one of the screens caught Tails's attention.

"What was that?"

"What was what, Tails?"

"It was nothing..." Tails just stared at the screen, the blip had disappeared, and there was no trace of an abnormal reading in the five minute play-back sensor. Tails thought he had been just imagining things, besides, why would there be something wrong with that system?

Their flight continued without a hitch for a few more minutes, then the throttle for the place started to stick in his hands. "What in the world?"

"What's wrong, Tails?"

"The throttle is sticking in my hands. It won't respond!"

"Oh my..."

The forest below them got closer to their field of view. Tails's eyes widened as he pulled back hard on the throttle, barely managing to pull out of the deep dive.

"Phew, that was a close one, Tails."

"Yeah." Tails glanced down at the instruments, a feed-back panels, nothing appeared to be wrong with the systems.

The two warily continued the flight for a few more minutes, a little more cautious, but they thought that was a one time event.

Suddenly all the feed-back machines started to go hay-wire, and when Tails glanced down at his readings, he noticed something was terribly wrong with them.

"I'm not sure its safe to continue for the moment, we'd better land."

"Right." Cream glanced over to the back of the seat Tails was sitting in. '_Everything's going to be okay, I'm sure Tails can handle this._'

Tails tried to pull the landing gear out of the plane but it didn't respond to his control. He blinked. "This might be a rough landing, Cream."

He pulled up on the throttle, trying to get the plane to go down, but the flaps on the wings were still in the wrong position for descent. Tails pushed a few buttons upon realizing this, but to no avail.

Tails pushed a few buttons on the control panels and flipped a few switches. "Arg! Nothing's working! I can't get the wing flaps to respond!" Tails cried out in frustration. This wasn't the way the plane was supposed to work.

"Um...Tails?"

"What, Cream?" Tails glanced mirror that allowed him to see the passenger behind him. Cream looked vaguely worried.

"Its...getting kinda on the warm side in here."

"Wha...?" Tails finally noticed this little fact, it was getting warm in the cockpit of the plane. The two tails kit looked down at his feed back sensors, trying to get some sort of reading out of them. The temperature was reading fine, or he thought so, considering it wasn't jumping all over the place every half a second like the other sensors. The reading it showed was about twenty degrees warmer then the engine could stand!

"Oh no..."

"What?"

"I think I misjudged the power of the Power emerald. The system is overheating."

"Oh great."

Starting from the engine, the plane started to glow white. Both passengers in the plane squinted at the brightness. Just then, explosions started to sound. The Factor X, Tails's greatest invention yet, exploded into a jet of flames.

Tails kicked the glass on the cockpit until it broke and both he and Cream were about to jump out of the plane. Before they could, however, the fire reached the more flammable, and explosive, part of the plane, and the plane exploded in a loud boom.

-

Tails pushed burnt rubble off of his battered and bruised body. Every muscle in his body screamed in pain, not to mention he was extremely sore. Several singe marks appeared on his orange fur, and some of his skin had been burned as well. He winced as he stood, feeling slightly dizzy. "Ug..."

Tails sighed, ears and tails drooping as he looked around the small, charred crater that the plane crash had formed in the forest. He had probably overlooked one factor of the Factor X, and had caused all this in his rush to finish the project.

He looked around the crater, looking for Cream. He noticed a severely burned rabbit ear poking out from under one of the pieces of charred plane. He ran as fast he could with his injuries and started to lift the piece off his friend. Soon Cream herself was uncovered. Tails stared at her limp form. It was covered in more burns than he was, and her red dress was covered in black.

Cream's eyes opened slowly, and were immediately wrenched closed.

"Cream?..." Tails stared at his injured friend concernedly.

"T...tails?"

"What Cream?"

Cream sat up and massaged her temples. "My head hurts." She weakly let her head fall onto Tails's shoulder. Tails hugged his friend and smiled. At least she was alive.

-End Chapter Four-

Don't remind me of how extra short this chapter was, okay?


	5. My mom is alive, Tails!

Hello! I'm finally back with another chapter to this story! Gomen Nasai for taking so long between the updates. I promise I'll update more often this summer.

!-Begin chapter Five-!

_**My mom is alive, Tails!**_

Tails stood up and looked around the rubble that used to be the Factor X. He helped Cream to her feet and walked around, turning over metal with his feet. After a few minutes of searching where he thought the cockpit would have landed he found a small communicator. He picked it up and dusted it off. He examined it very closely. The machinery appeared to be fine on the outside, but it might the wires might have melted down from the heat before the explosion. He opened up the back of the hand held machine and was slightly worried at how easily the metal crumbled in his fingers. He looked inside at the wiring, it appeared to be safe. He turned it over and turned it on. A little light on the front flashed green and he spoke into it.

"Hello? Can anyone here me?"

!-

Back at the village Sonic looked up at the transmitter. He was finishing repairing the infirmary when he heard Tails's broken up voice. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to it. He pressed a button and spoke.

"Tails? Tails? What is it?"

!-

Tails's heard Sonic's very broken up voice with relief. "Sonic! I must have overlooked something, the plane blew up. I think there was too much power from the Power Emerald for the systems to handle."

!-

On the other end Sonic only heard "Sonic!" then there was a large break up of Tails's voice, "overlooked" more break up "blew up" more break up "systems"

"Huh? Tails, you're breaking up!" Sonic was thoroughly concerned, "What's happening over there?"

"Sonic!" Tails was practically shouting, "Plane blew up."

"What!"

"The plane blew up in the middle of a forest. We're alright for the most part."

Sonic's eyes widened and he ran out of the hut and jumped onto the roof and looked around, he couldn't see any smoke, they weren't nearby. He jumped back down and came in just in time to hear Tails speak, "Sonic, I think I hear something. I need to..." Tails's voice completely broke up. Sonic ran around the village, trying to find someone. '_Just hang on buddy, we'll get you.'_

!-

Tails sighed as the communicator smoked in his hands. He dropped it onto the ground as it burst into flames. He walked over to Cream, who looked about ready to cry. Tails put a hand on her shoulder, comfortingly. "No need to worry, Cream."

"How can you say that, Tails? The plane's gone, and I don't know where we are."

Tails tried to smile comfortingly and not look to worried for Cream's sake. He looked around the forest. The crash had knocked out his sense of direction, however he had gained it back pretty quickly. "I think I saw a city in the north, Cream. We should probably head over there." He looked at the edges of the forest with concern, he was sure he had heard something walking around there earlier, but now he could only hear silence. He spent a few seconds looking around the plane and found a silver emerald and after a few more minutes, for it was buried deep within the rubble, a black box. Both were rather light and he could carry them with ease.

"What's that for, Tails?"

"Because if Eggman saw the smoke, I don't want him finding these two things. Both would be dangerous tools in his hands."

"Oh"

The two of them walked along in silence, nothing bothering them except the crash. Tails was leading but he occasionally looked back to check on Cream. She was handling this a lot better than he had thought she would. Six months ago she would have taken this a lot worse, but she was different now. But then again, so was he. He had been kind and gentle and helpful and very patient. He could still be that, but he tended to be moody, irritable, and tended to yell at people.

He sighed, since when had he changed? They had gone back to Mobious and he was fine, but then Eggman had taken over and they needed to create a village. Since he was the only one who could match and beat Eggman in technology and strategy he was called on by the others a lot and asked the impossible which he could pull off. But he had reached his limit, the stress was starting to pressure him too much, he supposed that's when he had started to change.

Cream had heard Tails sigh and looked up at him. What was wrong. She noticed he kept looking back to check on her. Maybe to see how she was doing. She knew Tails had changed, probably more than the rest of them, but she had changed too. When her mother had been captured and she went to live in the village with the others she had decided that she couldn't sit around and look pretty, she needed to help them out as much as she could. She had strengthened herself in mind and body to be of more use. She was no longer the emotional child she had been, or at least as much, she was still a child and the world was cruel. She had grown up with her mom, unlike Tails had, she had never learned at an early age how to defend herself. She was not as likely to cry as she used to be, but she was more likely to cry than anyone else at the village.

She sighed as she thought that and followed, eyes glued to her arm as she inspected the various burns, bruises, and scratches on it. She felt sore all over but there were no really serious injuries. The sleeve of her dress had been torn slightly, her shoes had been scuffed, her gloves were in tatters but that was the worst of it. Except for her ears. They were big and sensitive to pain. While she didn't mind the numbing pain from the rest of her body, her ears had been burned slightly and she was fighting not to break down from pain. She had to keep moving. She had to force herself to move until they reached a place in the city where they could rest.

Tails was actually in more pain than Cream. There were a few deep gashes on him from kicking the glass open, but the bleeding had slowed to a trickle when he had come conscious again. He was bruised and battered all over. It was more like a living hell for him to shift his body slightly. Walking was pure torture. But he wasn't going to stop now, Cream was relying on him to lead them to the city.

They reached the city within an hour, they had made good time considering how badly beaten and bloody they were. When they reached the city they saw ruin and disaster everywhere. Robots had stormed the city. Tails's eyes widened as he heard a group of robots coming towards them. He grabbed Cream's hand by carrying the emerald and the box in one arm and half dragged, half carried her behind a building. Cream picked up her feet and ran along with Tails so she was being one fourth dragged and three fourths running. They ran along the alleys until they thought it was safe. Cream stood next to Tails and whispered to him.

"Tails, I can carry the emerald for you."

Tails nodded and handed it to her. He closed his eyes and followed the movements of the troopers with his hearing. He opened his eyes wide in shock and some fear when he heard something drop behind him. He turned around and moved in front of Cream.

He squinted his bright blue eyes to focus in the dark, for some odd reason they didn't want to. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light something bright shined upon the two of them.

"What do we have here? A fox and a rabbit? Both seem injured, and I think they were just running from some robots." The light was dimmed and it seemed as if the mysterious person was speaking aloud to himself. Tails blinked some water from his eyes from the sudden bright glare of light. He focused on the source and saw a demi-human cat standing there. He couldn't see much detail except for glowing yellow eyes that didn't appear to be too far off the ground.

The person walked towards them and shined the light on itself; it had snowy white fur marred by think black stripes. Its fur gave it a scruffy looking appearance but it didn't look like it couldn't keep its fur clean, more like it wouldn't. A pair of white pointy ears poked from the top of its head with the same scruffy appearance. Its eyes were still glowing yellow from the low light.

"My name is Shiro Tora, but you can call me Scruffy. Who are you?"

"My name is Tails"

"I'm Cream."

"Well, Tails and Cream, the city isn't the safest place to be since Eggman took over again. You should come with me, besides I've got something to treat those injuries of yours."

Tails and Cream looked at each other and nodded. Tails spoke up, "Fine, Scruffy."

Scruffy lead the way for them through the alleys and back streets, away from the lights and robots. He came to an old dilapidated building. Inside was only dust but he lead them to an old elevator shaft. If the elevator till ran it wouldn't be that safe, however when the rusty doors opened, a bright sleek metal elevator was revealed. Tails and Cream followed Scruffy inside the machine. The doors hissed closed and it dropped down quickly. Tails and Cream grabbed a rail on the wall to keep from falling over. Eventually the speed lessened until it stopped suddenly. Too suddenly, however Tails and Cream managed to stay standing, although they felt a bit dizzy. Scruffy was unaffected through all of this.

They walked out and looked around in awe. This was the sort of place Tails wanted to work in. There were about five computer terminals. All in all it was sleek, modern and high-tech. This is what Tails needed to do as much work as he was asked to do.

Bending over a computer was another cat type person. It was orange furred with black stripes, this one didn't have as much a problem with scruffy looking fur, in fact it was rather neat and glossy. It was wearing a form fitted red-purple top and a pair of slightly looser pants of the same coloration. It turned out to be a she and turned to look over at Tails, Cream, and Scruffy.

"Scruffy, who are they?"

"This is Tails and Cream. They were running from Eggman, besides, they need some help. They aren't in too great of shape."

She stared dubiously at them and sighed and shrugged, deciding they weren't a danger. "Fine, but we need some robot parts. You go get them like you were supposed to. I'll help them out."

"Alright fine." Scruffy left them with the mysterious looking woman.

"Who are you? You know who were are."

"My name is Mizu Hoseki. I've got something that should help heal those cuts and bruises in a jiffy." Mizu left through a metallic door and came back with two small glasses of something. She handed them to Tails and Cream. "Drink this, it will help." Tails and Cream chugged down the liquid and tried not to spit it out, it tasted horrible! They swallowed it and the taste disappeared from there mouths. Within moments they were feeling better.

Mizu smiled at them as the cuts healed and the bruises vanished. "What was that?"

"Something I developed."

"Oh." Mizu looked at Cream. There was something about her...suddenly she snapped her fingers.

"You look familiar. Are you by chance related to a Vanilla Rabbit?"

Cream's eyes widened. A smile could be found on her face maybe this person knew who her mother was. "Yes! She's my mother, how do you know her?"

Mizu smiled as did Tails. "Oh, she was in here a few weeks ago, she was in pretty bad shape. Apparently she had nearly escaped being turned into one of Eggman's robots."

"Is she here now?"

"No, sorry, she left saying something about finding her daughter."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No, she wouldn't tell us where we were going." She noticed Cream's disappointed expression, "I'm sorry, but that's all I know."

Cream nodded and Tails rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, its better than what we had thought before, Cream."

"Yes, I knew she was alive, even when you guys wouldn't believe me."

"We couldn't find her. But we should be able to now." Cream nodded. "Maybe we should stay here for the night and get some rest." Cream nodded again, and Tails looked up at Mizu, "Would that be a problem."

"Not at all."

!-End chapter Five-!

And here I thought I wasn't going to use any OCs at all for this story...oh well.

Know your Japanese Shiro- White 

Tora- Tiger

Mizu- Water

Hoseki- Gem


End file.
